International photographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

Movie Forest Fires Forest fires in the movies are staged with all the precision of a hallet routine. The star follows a course through the flaming woods that has been charted as carefully as a danseuse's steps. "If the actor loses his way, he's in serious trouble,' explained Otto Brower, the thrill director of Hollywood. "An assistant sounds the alarm and the firemen rush in with hoses to throw a wall of water around the player. That seldom happens, though, since we go through so many rehearsals that he knows exactly where he is going." Brower, who has filmed earthquakes, simoons and other catastrophes for some of the movies' most exciting scenes, has been directing a $150,000 conflagration on 20th Century-Fox' backlot for the last month. The scenes are for Zane Grey's "Western Union," which is being filmed in Technicolor. The studio built a forest that spread over 17 acres. The trees were real. Scores of Los Angeles property owners who want to clear trees out of their yards telephone the movie lots every week. The studios, if they are in need of a forest, do the excavating free. "We gave the players asbestos clothes for the scenes where they're working within a foot or two of flames,' said Brower. "Even at that, it's dangerous. Bob Young lost his eyebrows the other day. The heat singed them off before he realized what was happening. Dean Jagger suffered minor burns when he strayed two feet off the course we had set for him." The studio kept 15 firefighters, two fire trucks, a doctor, two nurses and an ambulance standing by. "The special effects men can tell within inches just how far away the flames are going to leap from a burning tree," said Brower. "They have perfected a chart over the years which takes into consideration the wind, the humidity and the type of timber. The flames were within 18 inches of Bob Young several times." Burning wagons rolled almost into the camera for "Western Union," which is a pioneer story, and blazing pines fell a few inches away from the camera platform. It will all look on the screen as though it had just happened that way and yet a crew of 120 "built" the forest fire thrills as an architect would a house, blueprints and all. Fox to Film O'Henry Story © "The Gift of the Magi," often considered the best work of America's genius of the short story, O'Henry, has been bought from the O'Henry estate by 20th Century Fox. Jo Swerling, who recently completed "Blood and Sand," has been signed to write the screenplay under supervision of associate producer Robert T. Kane. Actually, "The Gift of the.Magi," a short story, will be only the basis for the motion pic ture. It will provide the famous O'Henry snap ending for an original plot devised by Swerling and Kane. New Graphic View Camera For the first time since as far back as anyone can remember, there is something new in view cameras. The Folmer Graflex Corporation ha> just announced the Graphic View Camera, which, for the first time, brings modern design, engineering and production methods into a field that has been long neglected. This new 4x5 camera is made entirely of metal and offers a unique combination of versatility, rigidity, lightness, and simplicity. The front of this camera rises three inches, tilts either forward or backward, swings and shifts either to the right or left. Its back also swings, tilts and shifts. These two in combination give the photographer all the adjustments he needs to solve practically any problem of linear perspective, sharp field or form. Its removable lensboard permits the use of a wide variety of lenses. The camera also accepts lensboards of the 4x5 and 5x7 Speed Graphic cameras enabling Speed Graphic lenses to be used interchangeably on either camera without disturbing their flash synchronizer adjustments. A 12]/i>bellows extension is provided. Ground-glass focusing is available with either "Graphic" or "Graflex" back. A real departure in view camera design has been employed in this new camera. An inverted V-section bed of aluminum alloy forms the support upon which both lens and film may be focused to give complete control of focus and scale when working at extremely close distances. Smoothly-operating rack and pinions which may be locked in any position are actuated by large, convenient controls. This type of construction makes it possible to shift the entire camera forward or backward to preserve camera balance with heavy lenses or to prevent cut-off when working with wide-angle lenses. It is also one big reason for the camera's unusual rigidity, stability and lightness. Built integrally with the camera is a combined camera base and revolving-tilting tripod head of which all movements are controlled by a long, accessible handle. This feature greatly facilitates positioning the camera. A built-in spirit level is provided on top of the camera. The reversible back may be removed and re-positioned for either vertically or horizontally proportioned pictures. Built to close tolerances and with component parts of great intrinsic strength, the new 4x5 Graphic View Camera is definitely a precision instrument. Graflex dealers now have it on display. New Graphic Motion Picture Equipment Studio and Laboratory Tested Since 1929 AUTOMATIC DEVELOPING MACHINE COMPLETE IN EVERY DETAIL LABORATORY EQUIPMENT WILL BE ON DISPLAY AT THE NEW SHOW ROOM, IN CONNECTION WITH MY ~New Address: 1515 Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, California ART REEVES Cable address: ARTREEVES International Photographer for February, 1941 25